Thread: The Wall Of Shame

Originally Posted by RezDog

True. The label is where the money is. Nothing wrong with being optimistic either. Likely he will get all kinds of offers ranging from the lowest low ball to I could do that.

I definitely do agree with that. If someone wants to pay it and has the cake, good for everyone!

Crying shame what happened to this Duck.

Originally Posted by DaveW

I think I stepped in a time warp. I thought an 8" belgian blue was about a $75 stone.

Now, if they get too expensive, people are going to start calling them a magic hone.

Ardennens Straight Razor Hone Blue Coticule 8"x 3" Belgium Coticule with Box | eBay

I asked him this...

"How come your charging 225 when I can get a brand new one with free shipping for 99. Just curious why your charging the prices of a decent JNAT for coticule backing."

Originally Posted by aaron1266

Attachment 196629

Antique Wolstenholm Son England Straight Razor Bareber Hook Hanger Gift | eBay

Might make a good strop hook LOL

Originally Posted by Substance

Might make a good strop hook LOL

True, but it just wouldn't feel right to me. Wincing every time you start a stropping session sets a bad tone for the shave, IMO.

Originally Posted by cosperryan

I asked him this...

"How come your charging 225 when I can get a brand new one with free shipping for 99. Just curious why your charging the prices of a decent JNAT for coticule backing."

Did he answer?

I have a hone question related to this listing. The Belgian Blues I have seen are usually labeled BBW which I think means Belgian Blue Whetstone. Is the coticlue only the yellow rock?

Originally Posted by Leatherstockiings

Did he answer?

I have a hone question related to this listing. The Belgian Blues I have seen are usually labeled BBW which I think means Belgian Blue Whetstone. Is the coticlue only the yellow rock?

Generally, when you're telling someone you have a coticule to sell them, it is the yellow part you're referring to. You could be selling yellow with a schist backing that has no cutting ability, and you won't be slighting anyone by saying that (as in, use of the term coticule implies there's yellow but it doesn't necessarily imply any bbw is involved). It's pretty much assumed that the back has no cutting ability unless you say the stone is a natural combo, which implies the back will be belgian blue. (or that the stone is a vintage glued stone with a begian blue back).

Marketing of the blue stone seems to be a recent thing, probably because coticules in a general sense 100 years ago weren't particularly expensive and a piece of material could be had for a carver or cabinetmaker that wasn't blue, but instead either all yellow or a natural combo. A cabinetmaker would probably want a yellow coticule with fast cutting power above all, anyway. There are better tools for carvers (most notably novaculite hards of the various types).

Originally Posted by Leatherstockiings

Did he answer?

I have a hone question related to this listing. The Belgian Blues I have seen are usually labeled BBW which I think means Belgian Blue Whetstone. Is the coticlue only the yellow rock?

He did actually. The first seller I have confronted that actually responded. Heres his response.

"This is not a JNAT I am selling. As a matter of fact Ardennes does not ship for free. So if you can purchase this stone for $99.00 with free shipping then you should. If you buy a stone from Ardennes you will be paying for shipping and you will wait about six weeks to receive it. Don't remember exactly what I paid for this stone but it is a Select Grade and a real Gem. This stone is not the backing of a Coticule. Ardennes uses slate for their backing. This Stone is a Belgium Blue Coticule. Also on Ebay people like making a best offer and I do believe I am shipping for free. Hope I answered all of your questions."

And here is mine.

"Actually its not a coticule. Coticules are yellow some times with a pink or even green tinge to the color. Of course you know this already.

I didn't say I could get it for that price from Ardennes but actually from an american site. I know this is not a JNAT as I have several. And back in the day, as in vintage, coticles were backed with what we now call belgian blue whetstone (BBW). Either naturally occurring or glued. Now they use slate as the backing as they have discovered that there is a market for the BBW even though it is a useless stone when compared to a coticule or pretty much any other hone out there besides agates which only burnish but may be good for finishing a razor. You see, BBW's have less garnet content (the actual mineral in both coticules and BBW's that does the actual cutting) than a coticule and is yet still courser but taking longer to achieve the same results as a coticule with slurry, which most coticules are provided with a slurry stone. I know you didn't pay 225 or anywhere near it unless you yourself got ripped off but your markup on the stone is exorbitant and your wording on the product description is almost predatory on the new and unaware buyers. You should be ashamed of your practices. 40 dollars for honing. Thats ridiculous. The best guy in the business charges half of that.

Alright schools over."

That's what we used to call letting them have it with both barrels!!

When a toolmaker gave me my deep rock coticule in exchange for helping him sell some stones (well, plus I gave him my tormek), he was surprised when I said I might take the label off and try the blue side. I never did try the blue side, but it's vivid on the stones that were selected for looks. I didn't have to take it off, though....it got wet and fell off.

I don't know if ardennes will entertain someone (and see an opportunity) if they say "give me the prettiest one you have" and then double the price of their usual stone and charge $40 to ship from the EU (no clue if they do that, just supposing).

But you covered that with "if you got ripped off".

Stones selected for looks are strange, though, and so too can be buyers of such things. 10 guys might give $80 for something the eleventh guy could be swooned into $250 for.

He may come back and say "I did pay $225 for it" or some large fraction of that (possibly even a fraction over 1), but given that 8x3 blues are available around here from time to time for $80 - $100, and I guess add $15 for a slurry, I'd have to say "I think the pretty ones are probably not for me at that price!"

I know there was language on the internet at one point that the particles were fewer and bigger on the blue side, but I've seen so much conflicting opinion on coticules that I have no clue what of all of it is right.

Different seller and different story - a couple of years ago, I saw a guy list a 8x3x1/2 norton translucent arkansas stone for $179 on ebay.

I sent him a polite message letting him know that they could be had new for $79 (and at that time, free shipping on top of that...they're still $79 now, but I don't know if shipping is still free). He said he wasn't aware of that and he took the listing down right away.....

He had several other stones for similar markup and left those up, but I figure he was just seeing if he could find a sucker or two. Not my cup of tea.

Same as the guy above, if he's charging $40 to hone, that's work I'd do if people were beating down my door asking for me to do it...but I'd get a puckery feeling in my pants asking that!!

There are many strange things to be found in the razoring community, though, too. I saw an advertisement for honing services not that long ago where someone said they spent an average of 1 1/2 hours refreshing each razor that they got in for honing. People just be including broad axes in the packages or something.